Age of Warlords Official

@ageofwarlords.bsky.social

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The Official page dedicated to my own wargame. It'll follow its development, expansions, games and more. Wargame fanatic, loves seeing dice rolling.

Using Polished Silver, Magic Blue, Dark Wood, Grim Black, Hardened Leather, Runic Grey, and Crusader Skin. All Army Painter paint markers.
Both models took slightly less than an hour to paint, using the speed paint markers from Army Painter. Both original metal figures back from 2002's Heroes of Helm's Deep set.
The surviving elements of the Republic of Peoria Army. 6 companies and 3 cannon survived. Thus, it was a Peorian Victory, but at a heavy price.
The end of the battle, and the final number of Ognonian Royals left. Just 4 Companies and 1 cannon crew. Pretty much a whole brigade left.
The end of Turn 6. The two companies that fled the last turn rallied, but were too far away to make any difference. The Royals destroyed many of the Rep Companies, but suffered heavily in turn, many on the verge of breaking, while the Reps were pretty much at full strength, helped by the cover of the hill and the forest.
By the end of Turn 5, two companies had failed their Courage Tests and were fleeing, stopping just before the end of the mat. The light company on the royal left was destroyed by heavy fire. The company on the far left, still retreating from the battle, was shot in the back and scattered. The remaining companies suffered badly, took taking several hits.
Turn 4 started with the two companies of Royals advancing 6" from the hill, then moving into a charge against the Rep company closest. While successful, the Reps hit them with point blank volley fire, decimating the front ranks of the Company on the left, before they made contact. The Rep company behind charged in after, becoming a 2v2 brawl.
The Movement Phase saw the initiative again to the Royals. The Ognonian Commander decided that the best form of defence is attack. He ordered two companies on the far left to move up and take the hill next to the river, and block the coming enemy from turning their flank.
I started by going over the green and other rough patches with a Wraithbone paint I brought along with me. While I waited for those to dry I tried the Overlord Grey on the hair. I was very pleased with the results as it made the dragon look older, wiser. Then I used Polished Silver on the armour trims. But due to the red, it came out looking more bronze in appearance. Turned out I was totally okay with that, as it looked super cool. For the membrane between the wings I used Berserker Bloodshade, a shade paint from Warhammer. I wanted to use purple, but couldn't get hold of one, so this did. And again, I loved it a lot. For the bottom of the tail and the underside of the dragon, I went with Hardened Leather. I also used it for the claws on the feet and the wings. Lastly, I went over the yellow with another coat of Zealot Yellow. The one paint I found so far that needs more than one coat over it to actually look okay. And fini! After a few years in white, I have a fully painted dragon model done in a couple of hours.
With the only enemy units in range, they were the most likely of targets. Companies can only target the closest models to them, unless they roll a discipline test to target something further. Casualties in the game are recorded with small dice, and are based on killing off a Company's Courage (a Company of 20 regular Infantry has a Courage value of 26, so when the damage a Company has sustained is 26 or greater, it is destroyed). Here, the Republicans suffer a total of 35 damage to their courage, split between different companies. The Courage Phase saw the Company with 21 damage on it to take a Courage Test, but thanks to the Warlord's Rally Order, it passed automatically.
End of the Movement Phase saw the Republican Army in organised chaos. The river on the right only had a small ford crossing, so only two companies were able to cross the river. The third by it failed its discipline roll (a discipline roll is required to make a wheel or change formation) so was forced to sit in front of the impassable river and wait. The brigade on the left fared better, moving their full available move to get up to support the brigade up front (moving through terrain halves a units move, but even a full 3 moves was enough to get most into place. Despite this, the brigade up front was still dangerously exposed to cannon and musket fire, and already one company had taken 6 casualties.
Turn 2 saw the Royal Army seize the Initiative from the Republic, rolling a full 12. With the Republican Army in disarray, they could have seized the opportunity to wipe out the whole enemy brigade in front of them. Instead, the Commander decided to hold position and use his orders to better the firepower of the troops. Only the brigade on the left moved fully up, ready to hold the pass along the river.
The Movement Phase saw the Royal Army hold their positions mostly; the Commander decided to bait the enemy to come to him; as the invader after all, they are the ones to clear the field! The only moment from the Royals was their light infantry companies, and every single one was successful. The Light Infantry moved up into the fields, behind stone walls and into the woods.
The Movement Phase begins with the Warlord issuing the order "The Brigade will Advance!" Up to 5 units can be selected and make up to 3 moves (1 move = 6" for infantry, 10" for cavalry). But despite needing a 3+ to successfully order, all but one failed. So one Brigade got the order and made 3 moves (18").
The two armies are facing off from each other, ready to kick off. The battle begins at 10:20am, with a heavy barrage from the Republican artillery. However, every shot misses, as the guns are too far out of range to cause any damage. But it gives the effect to everyone that the battle has now begun. The Royal Commander looks at his watch, and prepares his orders. The objective of the battle is to drive the enemy off the field. The army with the most units left on the table by the end is the winner.
The Royal Army of Ognon standing in battle formation. The guns, 3 of them, stand in front of the main battle line, which consists of three brigades. Each Brigade has 4 Line Infantry companies and 1 Skirmish Company each. The Warlord is standing on the rocks (which will be a hill in this battle, all rocky formations are hills), and is considered a Competent Commander with 9 Orders to give out each turn.
The Battlefield today, all 2D terrain pieces, while looking flat, looks more interesting than a plain mat. The rocky terrain are hills, the fields are as is, the river is impassable save from a few ford crossing and the main bridge. And the foam cut pieces are all dense forests.
Krondys the "yellow" dragon. Using the paint pens from the introductory kit, I painted yellow for the main body, red for the armour, and green for the underside. Though I might remove the green and keep it the beachy white.
Two strips of french Napoleonic infantry, one of 20 men with their smart uniforms on display, the other strip of 20 all wearing great coats to keep their uniforms clean. Beside them is a regimental commander, to lead the force into battle.
The Combat Phase was a pretty bloody affair for the largest unit on both sides, the light spear infantry. The Normans struck first, felling more of the Roman infantry, leaving them down to just 6. The Romans did better, killing way more of the Normans, leaving the unit to just 5 left. The Morale Phase will decide who emerges from this clash victorious.
The Norman Shooting Phase can be glossed over as they failed to kill anything this turn. The Romans, however, had fortune on their side. The horse archers went first, targeting the medium armoured spear unit that was moving to the right. But a poor dice roll meant that only one norman was felled. Then it was the unit of foot archers. Thanks to some rerolls, every model scored a hit, and every single roll to kill was successful too. The unit of 10 armoured normans went down to just 1. Brutal...
The 4th Turn began with the Norman Warlord splitting his largest unit, the 20 model spearmen unit in medium armour, into two units of 10, with one covering the right flank and the other moving to the left. It was a bold decision, especially with the archers behind in decent range to shoot at them. The Romans began their Movement Phase with the Swordsmen Unit falling back out of combat, using the Warlord Command of Break Off! (Which allows the unit to fall back without taking a Ld Test).
As the Morale Phase began, the Norman Warlord quickly used his final orders to the two units who had to take a Leadership Test. The two handed axemen on the Norman right were first. As a unit of 8 Heavy Infantry, they had a Leadership of 9, but after losing 4 in a single turn, their Ld was down to 5, but with the Warlord command of Ignoring the Losses, their Ld was back to 9, which helped them to pass their Morale Check and carry on fighting. The Spearmen in the centre was a harder challenge. Having started the turn with a Ld of 21 (the unit multiplies its leadership by 7 for any extra ten models in the unit. So for units between 21 & 30 models, their Ld was 21), then having lost most of their unit in The Shooting and Combat Phase, bringing them down to 9 models remaining, giving them a Ld of 11. Such losses were still not enough to break them, so they remained in the fight.
The final combat of Turn 3 saw the Norman medium swordsmen attempt to smash the heavy infantry, but with a 6+ to hit them, not a single one managed to break through their armour and shields. The Heavy Infantry didn't have much luck themselves, killing only one norman. But it was still enough to win the combat, pushing them back, too. The Norman Warlord couldn't believe his eyes! They started the battle with more numbers, better equipment, and larger units. In a single moment, those advantages were gone. It was the decisive moment of the battle, but the Norman Commander was not willing to back down yet.
The central combat didn't go very well for the Normans either, with the Warlord failing to give command to them, too. Initially needing a 2+ to hit, it was modified to a 5+ due to Roman shields and being in Shieldwall. The result, they managed to kill 5 of the 16 Roman infantry in front of them.
As per the rules of the game, the Combat Phase begins with the Warlords of both armies (starting with the Attacker) using their commands to aid their troops in battle. Once the orders are given out, then the Attacker selects which combat to begin with, fighting that round, then the defender gets a go, and once both sides have rolled, casualties are then removed. As Excellent Warlords, both had a great chance of getting what orders they wanted carried out, which would aid the charging party more than the defenders. To the Norman leader's horror, however, not a single one of his Commands reached their intended destinations. All three failed terribly. The Late Roman Commander's rolls were better, getting to use most of his commands. But once that was out of the way, the combat started, with the two handed axemen being the first...
The Shooting Phase for the Normans was lackluster, with the crossbowmen finally getting to use their crossbows... But missed with every shot, aiming for the heavy infantry to support their comrades in front of them.
The Turn 2 Shooting Phase began with the horse archers having another swipe at the Crossbows. Despite their range, and the fact that they moved, a single hit landed on an enemy model, bringing him down! Out of 8 crossbowmen that started the battle, only 6 remained. But it wasn't enough to send them to flight.
The Normans start their movement phase with another attempt to advance further. Fortunately for them, the roll was a success! The norman army surged forward in a single tide of steel, stopping about 12" away from the Roman front line. The unfortunate side of advancing the whole army is that they are now unable to do anything else; too tired from running forward in a sprint. And worse, the units have failed to move into tight formation as they advanced, leaving them vulnerable to enemy fire. The Warlord shrugs; better to move quickly and get in quick, than to move like a tortoise and get cut to ribbons!
The Late Roman Shooting Phase began with the Roman Warlord bellowing an order for the horse archers to shoot then fall back. This order was successful. Checking the range, they were 14" away from the crossbows, needing a 4 to hit, but as they moved more than 6" it was a 5 to hit. Rolling 6 dice, only one successfully hit. Another roll against their armour, which was a 3+, scoring a 5. The arrow tore into one man's armour, sending him flying back and down onto the ground. Whether injured or dead, doesn't matter, he won't fight in this battle anymore. After that, the horse archers fell back 13", their standard movement. The rest of the shooting from the Romans was poor. The norman shields blocked any arrows that fell upon them. With that disappointing finish, Turn 1 was finished, and Turn 2 began.
Before The Movement Phase began, both Warlords rolled to see how good they were. Amazingly, both were Excellent Warlords, which means the issue commands on a 3+, and can order D3 +3 commands each turn, the norman leader getting 6 orders per turn, while the Roman one got only 4. The Normans kicked things off by the Warlord ordering a Mass Advance to everyone, but when he rolled for it came up and 2, which is a fail; some of the units heard, but not all of them. Nevertheless, they moved forward, slower than they hoped for, but still moved forward, horns blaring, dust clouds forming. It was a horrifying sight for the defending models on the far side of the battlefield.
Late Roman Army The Warlord w SHW + Shield + Horse (70pts) 16 Light Infantry w Spears+Shields (256pts) 16 Light Infantry w Bows (208pts) 10 medium infantry w Swords + Shields (350pts) 6 Light Cavalry w Bows (204pts) 6 Medium Cavalry w Spears + Shields (216pts) 6 Heavy Cavalry w Spears (246pts) Total cost: 1,688pts
The two armies lined up for battle. The scenario is a Pitched Battle, so both sides must kill more of their opponent by the end of Turn 6. The Romans are to the south end, with 1700pts. The Normans are in the north end with a whopping 2500pts. The Romans have spread their infantry line out across the front, making it thin, but able to act quick if free to engage any enemies assailing the flanks. Cavalry are to the flanks, light on the right, medium on the left, heavy cavalry are in the rear, behind the Warlord. The Normans are larger, and can afford to deepen the ranks. The spear infantry are formed up like a giant square, the aim of getting close quickly and battering through the Roman line. The heavy infantry on the right, to run forward and smash whatever gets in their way. While the swords and crossbow unit are on the left. Before the game and deployment started, I rolled for both sides, with the Normans being the Attackers and the Romans the Defenders. The Romans set up first, followed by the Normans.
Airfix kit of the Cunard Ocean Liner RMS Mauretania. Completed in 1907, she held the Blue Riband for the fastest ship to cross the Atlantic, and held it for 20 years. On the box is artwork of the great Edwardian liner coming into New York harbour, with the Statue of Liberty in the background, and passengers on the open decks waving at the tugboats who have come to guide her in.
Another solo play test, this time in 2020, with Normans and Anglo Danes facing off on the field. By this point, the rules had very much remained the same as they are now, albeit with some minor changes added.
A large solo test game played way back in 2017, not long after I started arranging the rules. It was very basic, and a lot of changes have since been made to the game, with additional formations, Commands, and how combat works. Here, Normans and High Medieval armies, both my complete collections at the time, clash in a flat "desert".